


Don't Leave Me (Because You're Feeling Guilty)

by AetherSprite (AranthianPrincess)



Series: Don't Mini [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Hurt/Attempted Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Steve Needs a Hug, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Worried!Steve, distraught!Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 22:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5843464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AranthianPrincess/pseuds/AetherSprite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve watches Tony fall apart over an injury that was nowhere near his fault and all he wants to do is comfort an unusually emotional Tony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Leave Me (Because You're Feeling Guilty)

**Author's Note:**

> For the 'writing format: first person' square of my bingo card. This was actually harder than I thought it was going to be because I kept accidentally switching back to third person when I started writing and had to go back to rewrite it when I finally noticed. Hopefully I fixed all those typos.

I woke up to the sound of someone sniffling, like they were trying hard to stifle the noises they were making, but was having a difficult time of it. It confused me at first until I caught the steady sound of beeping off to the side, near my head. A heart monitor. I remember it from the time SHIELD, with the Avengers' help, had forced Tony to get checked out by the medical staff on the Helicarrier after the Chitauri. He hadn't wanted to go, insisting he was fine, but I managed to out stubborn him and get him to sit for an examination. His heart had stopped, after all. That's never a good sign, no matter who you are. The doctors had hooked him up to what Bruce had told me was an EKG machine meant to monitor the patient's heartbeat. Tony hadn't liked it, but I remember feeling comforted by the strong, steady beat of his heart the machine showed us. The beeping sound now was just as steady. Then why was someone trying hard not to cry? What was going on?

My eyelids felt heavy when I tried to open them. A second attempt ended in success as I managed to force them open. I felt more awake instantly, as if I had been asleep for a while and my body wasn't yet used to waking up again. How long had I been out? And why? For that matter, where was I? A quick catalog of the area I could immediately see without moving suggested I was in a friendly hospital. The bed seemed to be the standard I'd seen on the Helicarrier, I wasn't strapped down or restrained, and the room was plain white walls and wooden door instead of the bars I would expect if I were in an enemy installation. Perhaps the most telling clue was the fact that I was alone except for whoever was still trying so hard to stay silent. If we were alone and whoever it was thought I was still unconscious, why were they trying to keep quiet?

I turned my head slowly to the side where I could hear both the beeping of the heart monitor and my mysterious visitor and squinted into the darkness. It must have been night. The blinds were closed and I could only just see dim, white moonlight peeking through the gaps out of the corner of my eye. The lights in the room were off, something else I found odd. Who sat in the dark next to an unconscious man? It's not like having the light on would have bothered me if I was unconscious and would have been helpful in trying to figure out who the hunched figure in the plastic visitor's chair was. As it was, I could only see his general shape. I was pretty sure it was a he since Natasha was the only woman I knew who would be visiting me in the hospital and the person in the chair didn't sound or look like her.

It took me another minute of squinting and a brief flash of light blue when the figure shifted before I realized who sat there.

“Tony?” I croaked and winced at the sound of my own voice.

Tony jumped and jerked his head up to stare at me, eyes comically wide, reflecting what little light there was in the room. It made him look magical, eyes shining as they were, but that was a thought I decided I would keep to myself. Tony wouldn't appreciate the comparison. Besides, he seemed to be preoccupied at the moment.

“Steve?” Tony whispered. I was awake now. Why was he still trying to be quiet? He leaned forward urgently when I didn't answer quickly enough. “Steve?!”

“Hi, Tony. What happened?” I asked finally. Tony made a noise that sounded like a choked off sob. That wasn't confusing at all.

“That's all you have to say? You fell off a building!” Tony nearly shouted. He sounded quite hysterical and I feared a nurse would burst through the door any second to scold him.

“Oh,” I said, not sure what else I could say. This didn't help matters.

“'OH!' Dammit, Steve, you could have died!”

“Tony, you need to calm down or the nurses will make you leave,” I said, trying to calm him and then realizing what I'd said. Tony didn't like hospitals. “Wait. How long have you been here?”

That stopped him in his tracks where he'd been furiously pacing and running his hands viciously through his hair. He looked a little like those photos I'd seen of Albert Einstein during my “catching up” research, only more crazed. He looked at me with half wild eyes and one hand hovering at about shoulder height, paused on the way to tracing a messy path through his hair.

“What?”

“How long have you been here? Have you gone home at all?” I repeated, finding the little button that would raise the top half of my bed so I could sit up more easily and stare him into submission. The “Captain America Stare,” as the team had dubbed it, definitely worked better if I didn't look indisposed.

“Um... I don't know how long it's been,” Tony hedged, looking away from me.

“Alright. How long was I out?” I asked instead.

Tony hesitated, but he answered after a few seconds, so he was probably just counting the days or something to make sure he was accurate. That was something I liked about Tony. He didn't work in generalities and would give you the most accurate, detailed information he had access too whether you wanted it or not, or even whether you could understand it or not. Okay, so it could be annoying, but at least I knew he wouldn't leave out some crucial piece of information because he didn't think it was important. Now, deliberately leaving it out because he knew how important that information was I could easily see him doing. Tony's heart was in the right place, but I could see him going too far in the execution, which I feared he might have this time.

“Four days,” he said finally. “Almost five.”

That floored me. “You've been sitting in this hospital room for a week?”

Tony's eyebrows scrunched up and he gave me a half-innocent, half-betrayed look. “I said almost five days, not a week. And so what if I have?”

“Tony! You can't just hang out in a hospital room for five days. You need sleep and food and something more comfortable than a tiny plastic chair,” I said. Tony just glared obstinately at me like I was berating an unruly child. “It's not like I would have known or cared if you went back to the tower for a few hours.”

“That's not the point.” And, oh great, Tony was folding his arms across his chest. It had the simultaneous effects of showing his stubbornness and casting his face in darker shadow so I couldn't quite read his expression.

“What is the point, then?” I asked.

“It was my fault,” he whispered, so quietly I almost didn't catch it.

“Tony, what– ?”

“It's my fault that you're here because I wasn't fast enough. I didn't see you were in trouble in time and I couldn't get to you fast enough to save you. You could have died and it would have been my fault,” Tony said in one, rushed breath then he turned on his heel and strode toward the door.

“Tony, wait! It wasn't your–” I tried, but he interrupted me, already opening the door and stepping out into the hall.

“I'll go tell the nurses you're awake,” he said and left, closing the door gently behind him.

I didn't see Tony alone again while I was in the hospital, though he absolutely refused to go back to the tower while I was still a patient. I know he was avoiding being alone with me because he didn't want me to talk him out of his misplaced guilt and he knew I wouldn't bring up such a private matter in front of other people, even the team. I was touched by his concern for me, especially since I knew how much he hated hospitals and talking about feelings, both of which he was facing by staying where he could keep an eye on me, but his tendency to constantly blame himself for things no one else would blame him for worried me.

It got worse when I was released from the hospital later that day. The doctors were amazed with my progress and sent me home with only a few warnings to take it easy for the next couple of days to make sure everything was healed properly. Tony came to get me, bringing an exuberant Thor with him. We took one of his more toned down cars back to the tower, Tony at the wheel, and as soon as we pulled into the garage he disappeared into his workshop.

I didn't see him around the tower for over a week after that and couldn't get into his workshop. JARVIS insisted Tony was taking at least moderate care of himself and didn't want to be disturbed because he was working on an important project. I spent a lot of time over those weeks standing outside his workshop door.

“Please, Tony, just let me in.”


End file.
